“Taking a pledge doesn’t seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior,” said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. “But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking.”

Adolescents who take virginity pledges are indistinguishable from their peers in only one way – they are less likely to use protection against unintended pregnancy and STIs.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008, 1:59 pm and is filed under American History, Sex.
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I disagree. Generally these pledges are the parents ideas, which means that adolescents who take virginity pledges are indistinguishable from their peers in two ways. First they are less likely to practice safe sex, and second, their parents are dumb as dirt….

For the record: Now that the story is old, a fuller story has now come out. The study shows that teenagers from conservative and religious homes generally have less risky sex, i.e., fewer sexual partners and are less likely to have a teenage pregnancy, or to have friends who use drugs.

What the study really shows is that a pledge per se is not important compared to an overall conservative and religious home environment, but that conservative environment does make a difference.